CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- Blogging from last night's Philadelphia Sports Writers Association banquet, it occurred to me that the reason everyone is so interested in what will happen with Ryan Howard's contract is that there's no precedent for this. The last player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in successive years was Cal Ripken Jr., and since he did it (1982-83), baseball's economy has reached a surrealistic level.Howard's rate of success has almost been too rapid. He wants to be paid like an MVP, but nobody gets that kind of money after only a year and a half in the majors. If the Phillies were to lavish Howard with a seven-year, $100-plus million contract now, one full year before he's eligible for arbitration, they'd be stepping beyond the bounds of baseball's salary structure and setting a new (and possibly dangerous) standard for the game's economics.
I've written before that the Phillies need to show Howard the money, and I still feel that way. I'm certain they'll step up his salary from $355,000 last season to about $1 million this year (a nice raise, to be sure). Then, after this season, if he continues to produce at a ridiculously high level, they'll compensate him by considering a multi-year extension.
But I also don't think Howard can (or should) expect Alfonso Soriano money (eight years, $136 million). Soriano got that contract through free agency. A deal of that nature would be record-breaking for an arbitration-level player.
Thoughts?
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